American Repentance – Will the Church be “Left Behind?”

If America “repents” – if America is repenting right now – is the Bush-devoted wing of American Christianity going to be “left behind”?

“Repent”, you know, means to re-evaluate, re-think, and change direction. It seems to me a lot of Americans are doing that this year in regard to a whole lot of our public behavior, especially as exemplified in the actions and words of the top leaders of our government.

It seems to me America is repenting of a diet of lies we’ve been allowing our politicians and media to feed us. We’re repenting of ignoring or abusing the powerless among our citizens while enriching the powerful. We’re repenting of using violence first instead of disciplined communication to try to solve international problems. We’re repenting of ignoring huge dangerous problems like climate change.

Americans are now very largely opposed to a war we were lied into and which has not yielded any of the promised benefits. Americans are opposed to continued destruction of American and Iraqi lives to no clear or attainable purpose.

Americans are now upset about how our veterans are being treated by this administration that sent them repeatedly into Afghanistan or Iraq.

Americans are fed up with “No Child Left Behind.”

Americans are turning away from the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Colter so that these unworthy voices are less and less listened to. Americans are repenting of having listened for so long to obvious liars.

Many Americans no longer believe it is either just or wise to take billions from services for veterans, school children, the unemployed etc. so the wealth can collect in the pockets of those already wealthy, whether through unaccounted-for defense spending or through extravagant tax cuts..

Many Americans no longer believe it’s appropriate to fatten the wallets of drug company investors when it means low and limited-income Americans have to choose to do without their food or without their meds – a sometimes fatal choice.

America as a whole IS IN FACT REPENTING. We’re saying “enough.” We’re taking new, healthier attitudes, and seeking new, healthier policies and leaders. We are repenting of lies, greed, arrogance, and unnecessary violence.

This is clearly a repentance in the direction of healthier values, and in many cases Biblical values.

“Left behind” means to miss out on what God is doing in history.

How ironic it will be if many of the evangelical right’s strong Bush-supporters are “left behind” by this “repentance” of which they should by all rights be the leaders.